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Will the Durrrr Challenge resume this year?

The long-standing Durrrr Challenge between Tom “Durrr” Dwan and Daniel “Jungleman” Cates is back in the headlines once again. Last month, Cates tweeted the likelihood of some hands being played out this year, something we’ve heard numerous times before.

Tom Dwan

Durrrr Challenge

As a quick refresher, back in 2009, Dwan proposed a high stakes online heads up battle aptly named, the Durrrr Challenge. The match would be between him and whoever dares to challenge, playing out a total of 50,000 hands while four-tabling at US$200-US$400 minimum blinds. At the completion, if Dwan was up by just one dollar, he would win the challenger’s US$500,000, however, if he were behind by just one dollar, then he would pay out US$1.5M to his opponent.

In August 2010 Cates took on the Durrrr Challenge and after 19,335 hands completed, he was ahead of Dwan by over US$1.2M. Then the match went cold. Dwan disappeared from the public’s eye sometime after Black Friday leaving many onlookers, players, and Cates, all wondering if it would ever be completed.

Dwan gambled beyond his means?

While Dwan was MIA, sparking all kinds of rumors and outrageous stories as to his whereabouts, Cates was the spokesperson ensuring everyone that the challenge would eventually be played out. Last year he revealed that Dwanlost a US$20M pot but no details were given of when that occurred. In AMA (ask me anything), Cates mentioned he wasn’t sure if Dwan was liquid. Then in one of his recent tweets, Cates shared that Dwan has been cooperating but has had problems.

A few days ago, in an interview with Cardplayer, Daniel Cates added that “He’s been in a bit of trouble and I guess gambled beyond his means or something. He’s been busy with some pretty big stuff lately. I hope that we get it resolved this year”

A feeling of déjà vu

But a tiny light may be in the horizon. Last year, the missing Dwan emerged into the public arena. Though minimally, he surfaced at the first and third editions of the Triton Super High Roller Series in Manila, Philippines. This sent a confirmation to many fans and players around the world that Dwan was alive and well and still playing in the big games. According to Winfred Yu, the Poker King Club President and CEO, Dwan has been playing in the big games for over six years. That seems about the timespan he disappeared from the limelight.

With this showing, could it be possible that we will finally see the Durrrr Challenge resume? Despite Cates’s recent tweets, Dwan continues to remain quiet offering zero insights on the ongoing issue. Unfortunately, all this teasing is nothing new. We’ll just have to wait and see and hope for some development this year.

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